Vibration isolation of acceleration sensitive devices

Significant vibration exists in many applications such as aircraft, ground vehicles, ships, and even in the laboratory due to cooling fans, footsteps, etc. The acceleration sensitivity of frequency control devices often requires that they be isolated from their vibration environment in order to maintain the required stability. Even the latest advances in acceleration compensation of oscillators require high-performance vibration isolation systems to reach their full potential. This paper presents an approach to the design of vibration isolation systems tailored to the needs of the package designer for an acceleration-sensitive device. The approach starts with the vibration environment, the maximum allowable device acceleration, and the space available and arrives at sufficient information to select candidate off-the-shelf isolators or specify custom ones. Limitations and trade-offs inherent in practical isolation systems are presented as well as common pitfalls awaiting the designer.